


Morally Grey

by BlackberryStains, CaptainMoose



Series: Morally Grey [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon Lesbian Character, Canon Lesbian Relationship, F/F, Fire Powers, Fluff, How Do I Tag, Knives, Lesbian Character, Long term, Minor Character(s), POV Lesbian Character, Superheroes, Supervillains, ofcourse, wlw
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-04
Updated: 2020-12-31
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:27:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,771
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27867630
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlackberryStains/pseuds/BlackberryStains, https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaptainMoose/pseuds/CaptainMoose
Summary: Ember is trying her best to be a hero. Falling in love with a villain makes that a bit hard. It's even harder when your morals don't exactly line up with the rest of the superheros. So what wins?God I really am bad at summaries. Lesbian superhero and supervillain, really what else would you want? There are fun fight scenes, some hurt and comfort and kisses ahead.  More to come I promise.
Series: Morally Grey [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2040214
Comments: 4
Kudos: 7





	1. First Sightings

_ “We now have information on the break-in. The bank on 4th street, which was holding overnight items from the Stanley Museum, got broken into about 30 minutes ago…”  _ The reporter drones on. Making a bank robbery uninteresting had to be a gift. The man shifts his weight on his feet- nervous, so he must be new to the job. His nasally voice annoys Ember enough for her to turn off the television. Its light was the only thing illuminating the room before; now a small flame dances around Ember’s fingers. She never turns on the lights. She doesn’t want to run up the electricity bill, so it’s either her own flames or the television.

A small chia pet, a cat with a pelt made of small greens, stares up at her with expectant eyes. 

“I won’t! I told you before, I have no place in fighting crime.” Ember snaps at the clay figure. It doesn’t respond, ignoring her. Ember crosses her arms and looks the opposite direction, ignoring it right back. Silence fills the small apartment. Books are piled around, pots and pans clutter the sink, a beaten up brown chair slumped in the corner. The only thing new in the room was a dark grey hoodie. Her eyes close when she has enough of staring at a dark studio. The smell of food she hasn’t put away yet sat near the chai pet on a cheap green plate.

She will have to look back at it to get the plate.

A minute goes by. Then another. Ember makes it about five minutes before she finally gives into the stare of the small clay cat. “Fine! Fine, I’ll go. Just to check it out though. No fighting anyone… Again.” She promises herself, leaving the chia pet content. She puts on the hoodie, pulling up the hood to blend in more with the city creatures of the night. One look in a window affirms that Ember looks like a random person on the street. A random person with grey eyes. She stares for a moment before turning.

Not that she’s excited. At all. She is just going to be among the people crowding the reporter. Her black gym shoes hit the pavement as she wonders how the bank robber got in without triggering any alarms. It had to be a supervillain then. Without powers it would be nearly impossible to get into the city’s prized bank without triggering the alarms immediately. Ember had seen only one group of idiots try. 

Ember fits right in with the crowd. Tired people just coming home from late-night shifts with their worn-out winter clothes. It’s a good thing that it’s winter. The icy air around them made for a great excuse to hide in an oversized hoodie. The nervous reporter nods along with new information being given to him. Now that she could see him up close and personal, Ember can see that he is shivering. Shivering at the very start of winter. She rolls her grey eyes, muttering that he wouldn’t make it through winter if  _ this  _ was bad to him. Especially if they continued to give him night shifts, he would be a popsicle before the end of the month.

The reporter drones on as she peers at the bank. “The police have confirmed that even though they were able to access the bank’s security cameras, they can’t figure out who exactly is in there.” A man near her groans in irradiation and Ember silently agrees with him. Police here are worse than any other force, it’s as if they are only hired if they  _ can’t  _ add 2+2 to get 4. With all the supers in the city, the police force was only there as a gesture to the people. The bank sits in the middle of the city. It’s large grey brick walls stand impressively around a hidden vault of irreplaceable items. Whoever robbed the bank had either a deathwish or an ego problem. 

_ ‘Probably both’  _ notes Ember as she moves away from the crowd. Fresh snow crunches under her shoes. The windows in the bank are large and decorative. No one would use them for break-ins. It dawns on Ember that she is going to have to break into the bank herself if she wants to save the day. Thankfully the fence around the bank is also decorative instead of practical. Something she could scale easily even with the old gym shoes. It is tricky to put her feet in space without the decorative spikes, but she manages. 

On the other side, she took in the full sight of the bank. Grey brick rises to three floors while windows patterned each of the sides. Again there was no break-in point but there was a side door for employees that only was locked with a chain. Walking over, she gathered flame within her palms. Seconds later she is inside the warm yellow halls. Ember looks around to find a slumped over guard. Dark stains pattern his blue outfit around a small black knife in his back. The black blade is decorated with a dark red handle, silver sharp edge wet with blood. 

Pocketing the knife into her hoodie pocket she stalks down the staircase. There was another door that was locked to get rid of. Then another. Then another. ‘God dammit, you’d think that they were holding more than old ladies jewelry in this damn vault.’ Ember remarked with a roll of her eyes. The last door gave way to a small hallway that opened up to a large open vault. A woman was standing in there, reaching up to open a small locker box with a ring of keys. The woman wasn’t very tall, a head shorter than Ember, though held a feline grace. Limber body twisting as she tries to get the right one in the hole. Her black hair hit her shoulders, waving as she struggled to keep balance and reach without a step stool.

Once the locker clicked up, the thief snatched a ruby cross then threw it onto the center of the box. In a blink of an eye she was across the room. The thief was holding a thick leather jacket. It’s pockets overflowed with jewelry and other random items in her left hand, stuffing it with the red cross with the other. In the center of the room was a large box with money, papers and more jewellery all stacked neatly around a vanilla cupcake. Her outfit was easy to see in the yellow-lit room, all black with one red sleeve that extended to her collarbone. And she was singing. Singing Happy Birthday to herself as the thief seemingly danced around the room.

Twirling over to the cupcake and snatching it up at the last word of the song. It was vanilla with rainbow sprinkles. Something that was more suited for a platter for kid birthdays instead of a villain robbing a vault. The sight was enough to make Ember laugh. The cat-like thief snapped her dark gaze over at Ember. A smile grew on her lips as she stared Ember down. Ember had to fight to keep herself from overheating.    
“Hello,  _ present _ ~.” the villain purred.

* * *

Her flames lit up the room brilliantly, white hot around her hands so much that it scorched the fabric on her hoodie. Ember silenced the flame just as quickly, praying to whatever force of nature causing her to embarrass herself to  _ stop _ . The villain just looked even more excited. Her grin stretched and her fingers flexed before suddenly she just wasn’t there. Ember looked up, catching a shadow of a figure before suddenly there was a hand on her back. The surprise made Ember light up once more, hands engulfed in red flames as she turned around. She was so close- Ember noticed dots of freckles before the shorter woman vanished. 

“Cat got your tongue? By now they are generally asking questions by now.” mocked a disembodied voice. Ember turned around slowly, trying to track the damn voice. Every time she got close to the right direction it would shift. Her nose wrinkled in frustration. Which apparently was too tempted for the birthday girl as a finger landed on it along. ‘Long nails’ Ember absentmindedly thought before jerking her face away. Moving a few feet back Ember noted that she should most definitely get more sleep.  
“What’s your name?” Ember asked a bit confused, causing the villain to blink. A questioning look appeared on her beautiful- _tired_ face. The reprimanding voice returned in her mind just as the woman decided to mock Ember. “Really? Where's the _Why are you doing this?_ ’ She started to mock a whiney voice and once more teleported behind Ember ‘ _Why live a life of evil?_ ”. Ember shrugged with her shoulders. Letting the villain move her hands to her back once more. As soon as Ember felt a little bit of pressure she turned around, grabbing her smaller wrists in her hands. A flicker of flame came. The smell of burning flesh and a yelp warned Ember of the pain and surprise she caused the other woman. 

She struggled out of Ember’s grasp quickly then vanished once more. This time onto the ledge of the bank locker. Her hands held a knife each. “You  _ hurt  _ me!” She complained except her tone told Ember that she wasn’t taking this all very seriously. Ember rolled her eyes as she ignited her right hand, slowly gathering enough fire to throw. ‘As if she didn’t kill people just a few minutes ago.’ She thought. Which was a ridiculous thought. One that made her start to laugh again. Ember never seemed to notice that her laugh was a little gravelly when she used her powers, until now at least.

“ _ You _ didn’t answer me.” Ember stated plainly, before throwing the fireball at the villain perched to the right of her. Those softball games really paid out years later. The villain's brown eyes widened, dodging the fireball by jumping off the locker. Her arms twisted her body so that she landed on all fours. Eyes narrowing, the villain stood up and threw the first knife. It cut Ember’s cheek. She winced as she dodged the second. Ember could hear it clink against the concrete as she barrel rolled forward, leaping up to charge at the woman. Her wince turned into a grin as fire built around her arms, burning the hoodie sleeves away. The scraps on fabric flew away, catching a small pile of important papers on fire. The villain had created a huge fire hazard now that Ember was in the room. 

She teleported to the ledge of the window this time, out of Ember’s sight. She hadn’t noticed before that Ember’s roots were blue then faded to a red. Her tips were burnt black, bits of it were catching already as Ember’s fire grew. It was beautiful, the wild fire engulfing the tall woman in front of the villain. A grin that matched her untamed flames held back smoke that released as Ember breathed. Spinning slowly as she searched the room for the slick robber. More smoke billowed out as she spoke, “How about we trade? My name is Ember- or at least that’s what you can call me.”.

At least Ember was entertaining to fight. If not brash and without flare. The villain twirled her knife in her hand, debating this offer as she did. Her red sleeve was the only color that her outfit had and it’s what caught Ember’s eye. The firecrazed hero smirked while launching a sloppy throw of fire at her enemy. It missed by a foot. Ember groaned, more smoke escaping her mouth as she did so. 

The villain was in front of her again, arm outstretched and aiming a knife at the fiery woman’s jugular. “You got too cocky already.” she said, as if giving pointers. It seemed like she knew what she was doing at least, what was the harm in at least listening. The blade started to cut into her pale skin, causing Ember to wince and close her eyes. She was about to throw herself backwards when stomping started to come down the stairs. Confused, Ember opened her eyes and turned her head. Stumbling as her flames went out quickly. The other woman seemed used to this though, groaning loudly. Her smile returned when she saw Ember on her ass though, bewilderment across her freckled face. 

She was in front of Ember, pulling her hoodie collar as she spoke so Ember had to look at her “I’m assuming you didn’t call them then?”. The villain cocked her head, contemplating as the steps got closer. “And my name is Red.” She said finally. A sharp and sudden pain made Ember look down, blue-lit eyes widening in surprise. A knife had found its way in her leg. Red’s left hand pushed it further, shaking her head softly at the scream Ember let out. She couldn’t afford letting Ember catch her as she ran away. And really, that would be rude of Ember anyways.  _ It is her birthday after all _ . As Ember let out a pained scream, Red collected her various birthday presents (a cupcake and the large black metal box). Red blew Ember a kiss, winking as she did so. Ember shot her a glare, holding the black hilt of the knife while debating whether or not to pull it out. She had read somewhere that it was an incredibly bad idea. But Ember had fire. Cauterizing wounds are a good idea right? ‘Try cauterizing internal bleeding.’ shot back her rational thoughts. 

“You okay there, kid?” shouted a masculine voice that Ember half processed before closing her eyes. Watching yourself bleed out was certainly a way to pass out. Ember muttered “What a bitch” before slumping down into the cold concrete floor. More voices thundered around her body before she was completely out. Something about burning papers.


	2. Fire Friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And now, buddy time! Brief mentions of stitches and wounds, beware. Check notes for a lil fun fact about a character.

Ember woke up with a jolt, sitting up immediately. Her inner elbow felt a tug. Without much thought she pulled at whatever was on her. It felt terribly strange. Her hands gripped at white sheets under her.  _ White sheets _ . Ember finally gained enough of her senses to look around the room.

Somehow she has found herself in a makeshift hospital room. The walls were dark and bare, though the floor around her was cluttered in papers, books and drawings. Some diagrams. Some kid sketches of hands and faces. The most notable was a drawing of a home, in front of it were two tall men, a girl with wild blue hair and a small human shaped thing. Ember slinked off the bed, grabbing the drawing mostly to ground herself. The waxy crayon lines felt nice under her fingertips. The bed she had been on was accompanied by a beeping machine that must have been tracking her heart and a steel stand with various medical tools that Ember didn’t know the names of besides “Stabby thing” and “Curved hook thingy”. A few of the tools had blood on them. Dried blood. 

With wide eyes, Ember took inventory of her own body. Two arms, two hands, two feet. Her thigh had a bandage on it, which was slowly being dyed red. The cheek cut also was taken care of in a familiar way, though it felt completely healed. She peeled off the bandage, noting the rough skin under it in a clean line. A scar. Red left her with a scar and a deep fucking wound on her leg. Great. 

Ember decided it was fine. Considering it was Red’s birthday. No hard feelings about that.

Kidnapping her though, that was very rude. The door on the far side was locked. Her sweater was gone too. Instead she was wearing long shorts and her original shirt. Ember was about to shoot down the door with fire when she heard a low growl of a voice on the other side. 

“Looks like our patient is up.”

“No way! I thought you said she’d be up for a whole day at least.” responded a young man’s voice. Excited.

_ What fucking weridos did I get kidnapped by?  _ Thought Ember. She watched the doorknob turn, calling small flames into her empty hand. A large boulder of a man greeted her. Well. Not a man. Her kidnapper had four yellow eyes, happily squinting in a smile with crows feet decorating each. His bald head had to duck under the door that he had just opened. The shadows of the room made his purple skin look even darker, though the whole room lit up as he turned on a light switch that Ember hadn’t even noticed before. His hands were huge. He could hold a basketball in each. In fact, the man was just  _ huge _ . His doctor uniform looked extremely out of place, it would be better replaced by a futuristic suit. 

Ember felt her breath get caught in her throat before she scrambled backwards, crying out in surprise. Her eyes were now a bright blue of her fire that had left along with her dignity. His smile widened as she felt herself turn bright red. 

He stepped into the room and extended a helping hand towards her. She took it hesitantly. The “Doctor” was surprisingly gentle as he helped her up. Then he held his other hand out. 

“You have my daughter’s drawing. I’d like it to not end up as ashes. If you would hand it over…” He spoke as if talking to a wounded animal. Or a scared child. Both of which was certainly not the first impression Ember wanted for anyone including 8 foot tall alien doctors. Daughter. That was good information. Though maybe not very useful considering he offered it up. She handed the drawing over into his empty hand before taking a step back. Another man followed him in, this time human. Human and lanky, looking like a college student with his shaggy blonde hair and too big for his face boyish smile. One of the men from the kid’s drawing. Expect without the purple clothes he was given. 

“Hi… Erm, Ember right?” He offered a hand to shake, which Ember looked at as if it was a complicated math problem.

“How do you know my name?” She asked, distrust thick in her words.

“Oh! I asked you a few questions before, you were only kinda awake though. We had to stitch you up.’ he stopped talking then gestured to the alien who was smoothing out the paper ‘And by “We” I, of course, mean Doc here.”

The alien grunted softly in agreement.

“Right…” She looked around the room again, avoiding shaking the man’s hand. “And you are?”

“Blaze. The name is Blaze. You are in the basement of Doc’s place. You were pretty well off for your first fight. Especially up against that villain. We haven’t been able to catch her at all! Teleportation really sucks to fight against. Real pain in the a-’ Blaze’s ramble was cut off by Doc’s grumble of disapproval. He lended a shy smile up at Ember before going on. ‘As I was saying, You did good. I was pretty impressed that she didn’t just end you for interrupting her heist. Pretty ruthless. We fought against her once before.  _ Really  _ messed up Hawk, though he doesn’t like talking about it a lot.” 

Ember blankly stared back at him, his words slowly trailing off into mumbles. After a few seconds of silence she muttered a thank you and gave him a bemused smile. Doc’s yellow eyes landed on her steadily more red bandage and he let out a sort of sigh. It sounded more like a wheeze. 

“I am going to need to fix that, you know.” He said in a stern tone that Ember didn’t really care for. 

Wrinkling her nose, she weakly retorted “Maybe I like my leg bleeding? Ever thought of that?”

Doc stared at her, mouth twisting down in an annoyed frown. Maybe now wasn’t the best time to be sarcastic. He had just operated on her. It wasn’t like they were planning on killing her. Blaze seemed friendly enough. Even if he looked like he belonged on some debate team instead of a superhero league. That’s what the picture had been. Must have been. It was odd, but Ember had heard many strange things. Like an alien doctor living in the city. The only time Ember had ever heard of aliens they were always the bad guys. With huge brains and green skin. Ember had to admit the purple was much better.

“Fine. Fine. I’ll let you fix it. But I want some answers too.” Ember commanded as if she had any ground making demands here. Blaze shrugged in agreement and while Doc leads Ember to the bed once again he grabs a stool from the corner of the room. Now that the room was lit up, it was clearly just a basement without windows. The dark walls were concrete and it smelled like bleach cleaner. A kind of smell that travels with you. Doc peeled off the bandage as she looked around the room. Avoiding looking at the wound. She didn’t mind blood, but watching someone else mess with it made her feel sick to her stomach. Out of control whispered a rude voice in the back of her head. She shook her head before looking at Blaze. His chin rested on the back of the chair, sitting in it with the back to his chest.

“What do you do, Blaze?” She asked which he responded by snapping his fingers. A spark appeared and lit into a flame playing on his fingers. Ember felt a lurch of some type of emotion that she couldn’t quite place. “An elemental. Like you, Ember.” He murmured, green eyes following the flame. He looked at the fire like it was home. The soft look relaxed Ember. Her muscles eased, even as Doc wiped something onto her broken stitches. It stung like hell. 

“Sea Foam is too. Water. She is worse at controlling her waves than you are at your flames. Though water seems less destructive.” Blaze laughed softly, his tone light but it held an offer in there. Something that Ember couldn’t take and didn’t want from strangers. Home is for familiar faces. She wouldn’t give that to people who helped her once. 

_ That shit is for Disney. _

Instead she nodded slowly and asked another question. “Where exactly are we?”. Blaze seemed instantly disappointed, though covered it up as quickly as it came. He started to answer the same vague way he did before so Ember cut him off. “No. I mean street names. Address. I need to know how I’m going to get home tonight.” Ember spoke in a serious tone which felt strange on her tongue. 

Doc shifted, pulling a stitch though her skin as he answered this one. “168 Rochester Street.” He said plainly. Cooly. He didn’t like answering this, but at least Doc had enough sense to know that she might just leave and see it on the doorway anyways. Ember nodded, looking up as she tried to picture the map of their city. Weirdly, it is a hell of a lot harder to focus on street names and numbers when you are tired and getting stitched up. 

Blaze cleared his throat and shrugged as if it didn’t actually matter to him “We were hoping that you’d stay here. Just until you were healed.”

Ember blinked in surprise. She tried to hold back the instant “No” and instead try to learn what she could. These were the first Supers that she actually had a chance to talk to for a few years. Fight chat was not the same. “And who is “We” exactly?” She pushed.

“Definitely not me.” responded an older man’s voice. Not angry, but clearly verging on it. Ember looked over at who she would describe as a war general. “No more questions about us. What in hell possessed you to take on a highly dangerous criminal with no training.” The general had asked a question, but it was clear Ember wasn’t supposed to answer. Just as he did Doc had finished stitching herself back up. He moved to go to the new man, putting a large hand on his shoulder. 

“This isn’t the time to interrogate her. She needs rest and clearly isn’t a threat.” said the purple alien, cocking his head slightly with a grin. “She is not going to answer your questions usefully with a ugly expression on your face like that anyways. You used to smile a lot more, Hawk.”

Hawk. The name seemed a bit odd at first, but seeing him in person it made more sense. It seemed to be like a war nickname, something like “Shadow” or something. His nose was hooked and had been clearly broken at some point. Blue eyes beady as much as they were intelligent. He clearly knew what he was doing. Were they playing some good cop bad cop angle? They chose the wrong actors to play it. Giant purple man was far more intimidating than an old human. Maybe they just thought she was an idiot. She would think so, at least. What  _ was  _ she doing charging in to play the hero like that? Other supers could have done a better job. Ember got there faster sure, but only because she lived a few blocks away. What if Red hadn’t been in such good spirits? 

Ember could have been killed.

Her face must have given something away because Blaze put his hand on her arm. It was a simple silent gesture, but one that Ember appreciated nonetheless. Grounding. She hadn’t realized it, but her fingertips were playing with a small flame. Something akin to a lighter flame. Easily snuffed out. Blaze’s fingertips weren’t blackened like hers. They weren’t even dry-looking. Ember put on lotion daily, even then during the winter her hands were dry and cracked when she used her powers a lot. Now they were a little cracked in between the fingers. He called up a flame too, bringing it to meet hers. Playing around with them. They melded and clashed and grew. Before Ember knew it she was smiling, relaxed and pulled away from an almost certain panic attack. 

Blaze smiled at her and Ember decided that maybe  _ he  _ wasn’t too bad. Even if he looked like he should be in a frat. They had a kinship, nothing too great but it wasn’t  _ nothing _ . Ember was used to nothing. Had been for way too long. 

Doc and Hawk had been chattering about her the whole time, but now Ember was feeling a little less like a test subject. They sounded like an old married couple. 

“I can answer your questions. I don’t know what you’d even learn from me though.” she said slowly, earning a thumb’s up from Blaze. 

And so they asked away. Mostly about Ember herself. Who she was (A nobody fire elemental) and who she was allied with (no one). Where she lived. Ember let them know the building and her phone number, but refused to give an exact place. That’s too much. They asked about Red, but other than her name and her powers she couldn’t give them much. She told them what happened, excluding the details on how Red maybe flirted with her and how it was her birthday apparently. That seemed really rude. And for some reason personal. Ember didn’t really mind the questions since Hawk seemed less aggressive and Doc stood in the corner, writing down the details of her injuries and how to take care of them. They finally got to the topic of her powers, which more so was just her explaining that she had no idea what that really entails. 

Ember got her powers at age 13 when a boy threw a punch at her. At the sight of her own blood coming from her nose she promptly had a panic attack and burned down a classroom and a half. She doesn’t remember most of it. Just the scolding she got from her parents. She almost burnt down a few more buildings and even her own room before she got control of her powers enough to repress them. Most people just chalked it up to being a pyro and after a year or two of no more fires her parents followed suit. She repressed her powers until she was 18, ran away and cut off all connections to the town she grew up with. Expect for one. But she didn’t mention that nor did she let herself think of it. She’s been training herself at her apartment and getting money from fighting crime. Well… Fighting and stealing from the villain. Which was fair! 

She gives most of the money back, just enough for rent and food for the next few months. It wasn’t too hard. She was ahead two months still, which was good because she didn’t steal shit from Red. Which Ember had doubts that she would have anyways, there didn’t seem to be a lot of paper money in the room anyway. Just pawn shit. Now with the leg injury, she is going to have to focus on small bad guys and being careful. 

Hawk seemed to realize that she wasn’t a part of an organization after a while. He stopped asking questions and just listened to what she had to give. Blaze had tried to clean up the papers, muttering about how messy Doc was which only got a grunt of a response. When Ember was done she laid back, staring at her hands. A moment of silence went by before Hawk spoke. “Well, it seems like there isn’t much we can do for each other. You can go home. Separate ways and all that.” He said, already starting to walk out the door. 

“Wait! Um can someone help me to my apartment? I don’t want to get in… trouble with the leg. It might be easier.” 

“Blaze can bring you. He has the keys to our car, but straight home. And I want you to text when you get there.”

Blaze seemed annoyed at being treated like a teenager even though he was in his 20s. His easy smile came back though once Hawk left. The next hour was spent gathering her tattered burnt up sweater (which she threw in the trash), bandages and Vaseline along with painkillers. Doc warned her that if she didn’t care for the cut it would get infected and that the painkillers were addictive. He hesitated to mention that she seemed to heal quickly, but that might just be because she cauterized wounds on accident. Ember guessed he heastitated because he didn’t want her to go getting hurt without thinking of the consequences. It was already a trait of hers, so the warning didn’t really register in her mind. 

Blaze and her went to the door which opened to a staircase, at which a door waited for them only a few feet away. Ember couldn’t find an excuse to snoop more. All she could gather that it looked like a normal albeit more clean family home on the main floor. No telling of a huge alien father and daughter. It was early in the morning. The sun only peeked over the horizons. There was a certain calm feeling that came with early morning skies. A time before the city woke up once again. And the time where the downtown folk started to fall asleep, safe in their homes. It made Ember itch. She didn’t like the quiet calm of the mornings. It was harder to hide in. Ember preferred loud clubs and grinding partners that didn’t even give her a second glance. Neon lights. Her breath clouded ahead of her and she shivered in her t-shirt. Thankfully snow wasn’t falling. She simply called up her fire along her palms, hiding it with cupped hands. It helped, but only on her hands. 

The car was warm inside at least, with heated seats nonetheless. Someone had already started it apparently. “So. Are you all a family or a team?” Ember asked, trying to make small talk while she turned on the highest setting of the seat warmer. Blaze looked amused at the question.   
“Why not both?”

“Because. Family means more I guess. Team means you just work together.”

Blaze only looked more amused.

Ember glared at him, confused before turning towards the window. “Fine. Don’t tell me.” she muttered.

“Okay, okay. No need to pout. Sea Foam and Hawk are family. Me and Chirp I guess are? I think it’s both really. We live together at least.”

“Here?” Ember asked, not turning back to him but instead drawing a smiley face with the clouded window. The car started to move. 

“No, away from the city. Under it actually. Doc lives in the city though and you were bleeding out. Besides he patches up anyone, Hero or Villain. So it seemed pretty good neutral ground, just in case you turned out to be a partner in crime with what's her name.”

“Do you guys make a habit of picking up strays?”

Blaze went quiet at that, humming in thought as he drove. After a few minutes Ember gave up getting an answer, pulling out her phone from her pocket. It hadn’t gotten damaged more than a crack or two.

“What’s your number?” Ember asked, peering up at him.

“And here I thought you were just going to pop off the face of the earth!’ Blaze chuckled to himself, rattling off a number after ‘Are we going to be texting buddies now?”

“What? No… I just. You know in case I get in trouble again. I don’t want to end up bleeding out.”

“Well maybe I’ll text you then. We have a training area. It would be a lot easier to train your powers there instead of an apartment. Training is everything.”

Ember blinked at the offer. It seemed very trusting considering everything. They really must be used to picking up random people. Ember felt a bit of concern for Blaze. Which worried her a bit more. Fast friends aren't a regular thing for Ember. She didn’t like wanting people to be safe. Especially if they were a random superhero. Blaze seemed to catch her uncomfortable face because he changed topics quickly.

“So. What in the world were you wearing? Sweaters don’t match with fire powers.”

Ember responded with a loud groan and slumped into her chair. Though a smile found itself on her face. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know if it will come up in the main story, I am probably going to write a separate thing with Blaze and Ember talking and hanging out. For feel good stuffs. But Blaze is Ace/Aro. He wouldn't mind a life partner I suppose but he wouldn't like a romantic relationship at all. Just thought it was a cool lil tidbit.  
> As always kudos and comments are appreciated! Always open for questions <3

**Author's Note:**

> And so they meet!   
> Kudos and comments are loved <3\. Also advice? If anyone wants.


End file.
